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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Passer-by pushes suicide jumper in south China
2009-05-24
BEIJING (AP) - Chen Fuchao, a man heavily in debt, had been contemplating suicide on a bridge in southern China for hours when a passer-by came up, shook his hand - and pushed him off the ledge.

Chen fell 26 feet (8 meters) onto a partially inflated emergency air cushion laid out by authorities and survived, suffering spine and elbow injuries, the official Xinhua News Agency said Saturday.

The passer-by, 66-year-old Lai Jiansheng, had been fed up with what he called Chen's "selfish activity," Xinhua said. Traffic around the Haizhu bridge in the city of Guangzhou had been backed up for five hours and police had cordoned off the area.
One can understand the frustration, but this is a little extreme ...
"I pushed him off because jumpers like Chen are very selfish. Their action violates a lot of public interest," Lai was quoted as saying by Xinhua. "They do not really dare to kill themselves. Instead, they just want to raise the relevant government authorities' attention to their appeals."

Xinhua said Lai was "taken away by police" but did not elaborate.
Posted by:Steve White

#9  Seems the police cordon of the area wasn't all that good.

Wonder if he'll sue the writer of Lethal Weapon.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2009-05-24 17:11  

#8  Dueling narcissism.
Posted by: mojo   2009-05-24 16:11  

#7  suicide cowards, just get it over with
Posted by: 746   2009-05-24 11:19  

#6  I remember well the incident to which Eric is refering. And, if memory serves, there were more than a few letters to the editor in both the Post and Times suggesting the same treatment of the Wilson Bridge "jumper".
Posted by: WolfDog   2009-05-24 10:36  

#5  In China, there is a tradition of sensible old people doing the obviously right thing, when nobody else can see it.

Also notice how the old man is 100% pro-government, despite the fact that he lived through the twin disasters of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. Never underestimate this.
Posted by: gromky   2009-05-24 07:20  

#4  Back in 1998, somebody closed down the Woodrow Wilson Bridge (along the Washington Beltway south of DC) for 5 hours the same way. The police eventually shot him with a beanbag gun; he then jumped into the Potomac and survived. I just saw a comment on freerepublic.com suggesting that Mr. Lai's action was perfectly understandable.
Posted by: Eric Jablow   2009-05-24 07:16  

#3  There was an inflated bag under the guy he landed on so it might not be that extreme.
Posted by: 3dc   2009-05-24 01:43  

#2  What a sport.
Posted by: Girlthursday   2009-05-24 01:40  

#1  Hilarious.
Posted by: Broadhead6   2009-05-24 01:21  

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